1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to intelligent electronic devices (IEDs) for electrical power systems, and more particularly, to an IED including a removable device for storing data relating to electrical power distribution systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electric utility companies (“utilities”) track electric usage by customers by using power meters. These meters track the amount of power consumed at a particular location. These locations range from power substations, to commercial businesses, to residential homes. The electric utility companies use information obtained from the power meter to charge their customers for their power consumption, i.e., revenue metering.
A popular type of power meter is the socket-type power meter, i.e., S-base or Type S meter. As its name implies, the meter itself plugs into a socket for easy installation, removal and replacement. Other meter installations include panel mounted, switchboard mounted, and circuit breaker mounted. Typically, the power meter connects between utility power lines supplying electricity and a usage point, namely, a residence or commercial place of business.
A power meter may also be placed at a point within the utility's power grid to monitor power flowing through that point for distribution, power loss, or capacity monitoring, e.g., at a substation. These power and energy meters are installed in substations to provide a visual display of real-time data and to alarm when problems occur. These problems include limit alarms, breaker control, outages and many other types of events.
In today's times, users are interested in capturing data in an intelligent electronic device (IED) and taking that data back to an office and analyzing or databasing the data at a later time. The common way to gather data in the art now is to download stored data via a communication port to a laptop or a stationary computing device utilizing a serial or Ethernet protocol. The disadvantage of this technology is that the user doesn't always have a laptop available and there is a latency time to gathering the data due to the protocol communication. For instance, to download 2 megabytes of data using traditional serial download schemes could take as long as 10 minutes.
Therefore, a need exists for devices, systems and methods for storing data sensed and generated by an intelligent electronic device (IED), e.g., a power meter, and for managing the stored data to extend the useful life of the meter.